Over a year ago, Stephen watched an episode of Throwdown With Bobby Flay where Bobby Flay challenged a woman’s German Chocolate Cake. Spoiler Alert: Bobby Flay loses. That doesn’t stop Stephen from wanting this cake, and talking about it for a few months before his birthday last year. I had checked out the recipe, and because it looked like a lot of work, I told him it had to wait until his birthday. January finally rolled around, and I made it, and oh my God was it ever amazing! I’m not a big fan of coconut, so that’s saying something.
This cake comes with a few disclaimers: it’s not for the faint of heart. If you decide to take on the task of baking this cake, not only will it be more expensive than a regular cake, but it will be time consuming. You have to stir the Cajeta filling on the stove for close to an hour. Trust me when I say that this cake is worth it. It won’t be a cake you’ll want to make often (we’ve dubbed it the once a year cake), but you’ll look forward to it. Oh, and it’s insanely rich. I have quite the sweet tooth, but even I only eat a little sliver at a time. Don’t let these disclaimers put you off the cake, try it for yourself and you’ll fall in love after just one bite!
There’s five different types of dairy products in this cake. Ok, I realize that coconut milk isn’t a dairy product, but it said milk on the can, so I threw it in the shot anyway.
Bobby Flay’s German Chocolate Cake
From the Food Network
Chocolate Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups muscavado light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee, room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and line with parchment paper 2 nine inch cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over low heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and add in sugars, whisking until dissolved. Add coffee, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Fold the liquid mixture into the flour mixture.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out crumb free. Set cakes aside to cool.
Cajeta Filling:
2 cups whole milk
1 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup goat’s milk
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp pure cane sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp cold butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt
2 tsp coconut rum (optional)
1 1/4 cups toasted chopped pecans
1 1/4 cups sweetened coconut
1. In a small saucepan, bring the milk, coconut milk and goat’s milk to a simmer. Keep warm while you work on the next part.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water over high heat. Cook, without stirring, until the sugar mixture becomes a deep amber brown.
{Just about done!}
Very slowly whisk in the warm milk mixture. Add in vanilla seeds and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sauce is reduced by half and is the consistency of a caramel sauce. This will take about an hour.
3. Once reduced, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla, salt and rum. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the and stir in pecans and coconut. Let the filling come to room temperature before frosting the cake.
Ganache:
8 oz heavy cream
8 oz finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and corn syrup, stirring until smooth. Let the ganache sit at room temperature for ten minutes before pouring over the cake.
Coconut Whipped Cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp coconut rum (I omitted this)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup lightly toasted sweetened coconut for garnish
1. In a stand mixer, combine heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla. Whip until soft peaks form.
Assembling the cake:
Bobby Flay makes this a four layer cake by slicing each layer in half. To save my sanity, I made this a two layer cake. Top the bottom layer with half the Cajeta filling, then add the second layer on top. Drizzle with ganache. Once the ganache has set, top with remaining Cajeta filling. Serve each slice of cake with a dollop of coconut whipped cream, sprinkled with toasted coconut.
The cake had been 95% devoured before I could even get a chance to take a picture of it!
If you decide to attempt this cake, I’d love to hear about your experience.
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